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Question

Question about the safety of my home network

Apr 8, 2015 8:31PM PDT

At home we have two laptops, a mediaserver and a router, together forming our home network. The mediaserver is supplied by the cable company and serves our TV set. All use WPA/WPA2 personal passwords to connect and I have not used simple codes. Since about two weeks there seems to be an intruder in my network. In the explorer, under "Network" I see every now and then a second router called DrayTekAPs. When I open my own router and look at the list of devices connected, The DrayTek is NOT there. It seems to connect to our laptops, not to our router. Since there are many routers in the neighborhood, I have searched for one that uses the name DrayTekAPs, but there is none. It maybe there but not show its SSID.(?)
I have checked the properties of all our own equipment, but none has a wireless card made by Draytek on board. Also, when I open "properties" of this intruding DrayTek device, it shows little information and a serial number 123456789, which makes me rather suspicious. Often the device disappears shortly after having been approached this way. I cannot remove or disable it.
I am worried somebody has hacked my network and is stealing information or is there a simple technical explanation for this?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
DreyTek
Apr 9, 2015 12:57AM PDT

Assuming you are talking about your Wireless and networks list...my guess would be that the DreyTek device you are seeing is a DreyTek router that is close enough to show on your list. As to whether you are being hacked by the device is hard to say..but since it disappears and reappears would suggest a drop in signal strength or the individual physically turning off the device. If you are that concerned I'd look into getting some heavy duty anti virus software that includes antiphishing, etc. box stores/tech stores should be able to help with that.

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Yes and no
Apr 9, 2015 7:44PM PDT

Yes, this is about my wireless network and yes I do have one of the best antivirus and phising software on my machines. I agree with you that it moving in and out could be signal, but why does it show up on my laptop network and not on my router?? And why does it not show on the list of neighboring routers that I can see under "Networks"? How can it somehow make contact with my laptop without having the password for my network/router (as it does not show up in the router in the list of equipment that is connected)??
Anybody out there having seen anything like this before?

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available networks
Apr 9, 2015 8:35PM PDT

it is absolutely nothing to worry about. it is just one of your neighbors router that is close enough for your laptop to pick up its wifi signal. It is not connecting to your computer or network, that is the reason why you do not see it in the router nor in your networks.

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Re: network
Apr 9, 2015 8:44PM PDT

As far as I know, the Network in Windows Explorer shows the networked devices you have access to in some way. That doesn't mean that the reverse is true also: those networkled devices need not have access to your computer.

But it's strange.

Kees

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Answer
Same here
Nov 6, 2015 12:11AM PST

I have exactly the same on my computer. Also serial 123456789, not listed in my router and apperaring and disappering.

I have in my network a samsung smart tv and a omnik solar panel management device. other than that i don't know what else it could be.

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Did you take steps to lock it out?
Nov 6, 2015 7:35AM PST

We know that anything less that WPA2 and even then we need to change the SSID and password occasionally due to "WPA2 CLOUD CRACKERS" and more.

Some folk confuse what they see on the WiFi networks on their Windows PC as intruders. That's going to take a longer explainer. Which I hope someone will write. In short it's fine to see more access points than yours in Windows.